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7 Conceptual Frameworks to Support Making the Case
Box 4: National Strategy for Making the Case for Biodiversity
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A number of existing frameworks have proven useful for making the case for biodiversity. These frameworks are all based on the categorisation of ecosystem goods and services captured in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. This assessment divides ecosystem goods and services into four categories, namely: 1. Supporting including nutrient cycling, soil formation, primary production and other supporting functions performed by ecosystems; 2. Regulating including climate regulation, flood regulation, disease regulation, water purification and other regulating functions performed by ecosystems; 3. Provisioning including the provisioning of food, fuel, water, fibre and other ecosystem goods used by people and livestock; and, 4. Cultural including aesthetic, spiritual, educational, recreational and other cultural functions performed by ecosystems. This categorization of ecosystem goods and services was then linked to various aspects of human well-being, including security basic material for a good life; health; good social relations and freedom of choice and action. This framework forms the basis for our understanding of the role of biodiversity in society and forms the backbone of all arguments. This framework outlines the importance of acknowledging both the tangible (provisioning) and intangible (supporting, regulating and cultural) values of ecosystems.
Figure 1: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Framework
Figure 2: A framework for valuing protected areas from Murphree (2004). Economic and Financial Benefits
• Products for subsistence use • Goods and products for market use • A strong foundation on which to build a tourist industry • The ability to attract capital from the private sector and donors (local and international) to generate conservation and economic capital • Job creation • Gene-banks for agriculturally important crops and animals • The maintenance and extension of State authority • The enhancement of the State’s image (locally & globally) as a leader in biodiversity stewardship • Trans-boundary cooperation • An opportunity to implement its mandate to develop economically sustainable public private partnerships • A site for interacting with the economic needs of the rural poor
Ecological Benefits
• The protection and provision of ecosystem services • Wildlife conservation • The protection and provision of biodiversity and its related benefits • Opportunities to expand scientific knowledge through the provision of sites for observation and experimentation • Protection against the negative effects of climate change • Recreational sites and facilities • Cultural and archaeological heritage protection • Religious heritage protection • Aesthetic values associated with landscapes and natural resources
Political Benefits
Social and Cultural Benefits
Other frameworks have been developed to expand on this initial work, including the categorisation in 2004 by Murphree3 of the role of protected areas in societies in the process of political and economic transition such as South Africa. Murphree further emphasizes the need to differentiate between the uses and values generated by protected areas, point to the role that protected areas play in both directly providing goods and services and supporting the provision of goods and services in an indirect manner. Murphree outlines four areas of benefit provided by protected areas worth noting in countries with a strong development imperative such as South Africa (Figure 2). Kettunen and ten Brink4 illustrate the most current framework linking ecosystem processes, PA benefits and the valuation of these benefits. It is important to recognise with MTC arguments that whilst economic benefits are relatively easy to quantify in monetary terms, the human well-being or welfare or intangible benefits of PAs are often very difficult to express in similar terms. In recognition of the varied role that protected areas play in society, the NPAES highlights four thematic areas particularly useful for the South African context but does not suggest a framework for organising MTC arguments: 1. Biodiversity conservation and ecological sustainability; 2. Climate change resilience; 3. Land reform and rural livelihoods; and, 4. Socio-economic development (including ecosystem services).
Figure 3: A framework for valuing protected areas from Kettunen and ten Brink (2013).
3 Murphree, M. W. 2004. Who and what are parks for in transitional societies? In: Parks in transition. ed. B. Child, 217–32. London: Earthscan.
4 Kettunen, M. and ten Brink, P (eds.) 2013 The Social and Economic Benefits of Protected Areas: An Assessment Guide. Routledge
